The NC General Assembly recently enacted House Bill 998, which becomes effective January 1, 2014. Under the new law, taxpayers will pay a lower rate and be granted a higher standard deduction. Taxpayers may no longer claim a personal exemption for themselves, their spouse, children, or other qualifying dependents. The new law also changes other deductions and tax credits.

As a result of this Act, the College is required to have all employees provide a new Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certification, either Form NC-4EZ or Form NC-4. If an employee fails to provide a new Form NC-4EZ or Form NC-4, the College is required to withhold North Carolina tax based on the status of single with no allowances. The College has no choice but to comply with this requirement.

The Payroll Department requests that all employees complete their new withholding form and submit it to the Payroll Office in the Union Station Building by Friday, December 13. Please keep in mind the form contains personal information, including your social security number, when submitting the form. Employees submitting their new form by December 13 will ensure that this very important matter is resolved before the College closes for the holidays, and will not risk returning to work in January and forgetting to submit a form. This notice will be sent again via “CAPEFEAR ALL” email on January 2 as a final reminder to submit your form by Monday, January 6. January 6 is the cutoff for all payroll documents needed to run the January payroll. If an employee does not submit a new form directly to the Payroll Department by the January 6 cutoff, the employee’s withholding status will be changed to single with no allowances. Also, due to time restraints, the Payroll Department will not contact employees individually to remind employees to submit this form.

The Form NC-4EZ and Form NC-4 are attached. Employees must complete one of the two attached forms. The Form NC-4EZ is a shorter form and can be used by taxpayers that meet specified criteria. The criteria are listed on the form. Payroll must receive the original tax form with signature. If submitting the NC-4, you only need to submit the NC-4 tax form itself and not the other six pages.

We have also included the workbook from the NC Department of Revenue with instructions and examples for the new NC-4EZ and Form NC-4 as well as the Press Release outlining the new law. To view PDF right click, then click on open. To view Press Release right click, then click open in same window. The Press Release attachment has a phone number you may call for assistance.

Deans, Directors, Coordinators, Mangers, Supervisors, and Administrative Personnel: The Payroll Department is asking for your assistance in discussing this requirement with employees in your areas to help spread the word about this new requirement.

Unfortunately, the Payroll Department cannot advise you on which form is best for you to complete. If you have any questions about how or which form to complete, please contact your tax preparer or you may call the phone number in the Press Release attachment.

Due to the complexity of the State Health Plan changes this year as well as the volume of difficulty of maneuvering through the open enrollment system, the State Health Plan has elected to extend open enrollment through November 15, 2013.

If you do not take action before November 15, you will automatically become enrolled in the Traditional 70/30 Plan effective January 1, 2014. If you choose to complete wellness incentives in order to reduce your premium on either the Enhanced 80/20 Plan or the Consumer-Directed Health Plan (CDHP), these activities must also be completed before November 15.

In order to make your selection, you will need to visit http://cfcc.hrintouch.com. If you don’t know your username or password you can use the retrieval feature or email me and I can reset your account for you (extension 7028 or email me).

Additionally, in order to help you better understand the new CDHP plan, the State Health Plan has released an informational video explaining it. Click here to see the video.

Before open enrollment ends, I would suggest logging back in to your account one last time to make sure the selection you intended to make is showing. To do this, once again visit http://cfcc.hrintouch.com and log in. Click on the green Enroll Now link, then select the Benefitslink. You should see your 2014 election listed if you have completed open enrollment, including the selected plan, who is covered and the total premium.

We have about 2 weeks left of open enrollment for both the State Health Plan and our optional benefits through Wellington Benefits.

As a reminder, if you do not take any action during open enrollment for the State Health Plan you will automatically become enrolled in the Traditional 70/30 Plan effective January 1, 2014.

State Health Plan Some of the most common issues have been the following:

If you get locked out of your account, leave me a voicemail or email and I can unlock it and reset your password. You don’t need to call the 1-800 number.

When you complete your health assessment, a new window or tab will automatically open. Don’t close the original window because you will need to go back to it once you have submitted your assessment.

When completing your health assessment, if you don’t know the answers to some of the questions (such as cholesterol, blood glucose, etc) you may select “I don’t know” and you will still be able to submit the assessment. The State Health Plan does not receive your answers and only knows that you submitted the completed assessment. You will still receive the premium credit.

When selecting a primary care physician, if you your doctor is not listed you may select a different doctor in the same practice and still receive the same benefits.

Wellington Benefits
In order to make changes to your optional benefits, you will need to inform the Wellington Benefits representative during your scheduled meeting. Make sure to review the final benefit selection form before you sign it.

Reminder: full-time employee contracts are currently available to sign at any time at the Human Resources front desk, Union Station room U299.

Open enrollment for the State Health Plan is from October 1 -31, 2013.

You may now log in to http://cfcc.hrintouch.com and select your plan option for the 2014 year. You may also complete any wellness activities you choose at the same time. If you are unable to complete enrollment online, you may call (855) 859-0966 to enroll over the phone. Expect up to a 5 minute hold time if you call.

Open enrollment ends October 31, 2013. You must complete your selection AND complete any desired wellness activities by that date in order to receive credit.

If you are currently on the 70/30 plan and do not wish to change to a different plan, no action is needed. If you want to select either the Enhanced 80/20 Plan or the CDHP, you MUST do so during open enrollment. If you currently have the Standard 80/20 plan and take no action, you will be enrolled in the Traditional 70/30 Plan effective January 1, 2014.

If you have problems logging into your account, email me at agreeson@cfcc.edu or call 362-7028 and I will reset your password for you.

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Remember: open enrollment for your optional benefits, including dental, vision, life insurance and your flexible spending account, will also be held this month. Please contact your department secretary or designee in order to sign up for a time to meet individually with a Wellington Benefits representative. Changes made to optional benefits also go into effect January 1, 2014.

Open Enrollment for WELLINGTON BENEFITS will be held from

October 14-November 1, 2013.

Each of you will be able to make changes to your optional benefits during an individual meeting with a Wellington Benefits representative.

Your department secretary or designee will have a sign-up sheet with available time slots for these meetings and will contact you early next week to begin filling these slots.

Meetings with the representatives are mandatory. Not all benefits automatically renew each year.

Effective date of changes will be January 1, 2014.

The new Wellington Benefits booklet is attached. They will also provide paper booklets within the next 2 weeks.

The Human Resources point of contact for the Wellington Benefits representative meetings will be Keith Travis at (910) 362-7606. Questions about the employee benefits in general may be directed to Allyson Greeson at (910) 362-7028.

The State Health Plan is working diligently to roll out as many educational resources as possible to help state employees make an informed decision about the new State Health Plan choices. The CFCC Human Resources department is here to help you as well. Here are a few ways you can learn more about the decision you will need to make between October 1 -31, 2013:

Additionally, our department will be holding Q&A sessions during the next two weeks, and any full-time employee may register for a date and time. These sessions will include a brief overview and then we will try to answer any questions you may have.

It is expected that you will have already reviewed the mailer, the website and/or the videos provided by the State Health Plan and have some basic knowledge of the plan options.

If you are not available to attend a session and still have questions, I am always available to answer your individual questions via email or phone. Supervisors with employees who don’t regularly have internet or email access, we also appreciate your help in getting the word out about these plan changes.